Statistics show that local hospital services have the highest rate of emergency services in Ontario.
At a meeting of Hastings County Council on Thursday, CAO Jim Pine reported 70 per cent of the elderly population is more likely to use health resources than elsewhere in the province.
He says this is a significant number.
Pine, who attended his final meeting before retiring on Friday, June 30, indicated that the county needs approaches to service present population and find ways to support healthier populations.
“Our age-related health care demand is growing three times faster than the population and has a wide impact. Paramedic services are a good example.
“Seniors are about a quarter of the population in Eastern Ontario, yet generate about a half of paramedic calls. The number of hours medics spend in off-load delays, we’ve heard that around this table a lot, has grown 500 per cent across rural eastern Ontario. Just since 2019.”
Pine added, “The senior population is expected to grow by 50 per cent over the next 30 years. That’s important. They need a lot of care. So it’s aging faster in our area than in other parts of the province and a lot of folks are choosing to live at home.”
“This puts pressure on paramedics,” he says.
Pine says the main message is, “We are working together to reinvent rural healthcare. Rural needs to be there in planning for health services, new innovative ways for health care …. to have rural and local solutions.”
